SUNNYVALE — Walmart opened a new office here on Wednesday to house a tech center dedicated to growing its online and mobile shopping business.

The office is the latest addition to @WalmartLabs, the retailer’s technology branch that works on e-commerce products such as digital coupons and shopping apps. @WalmartLabs is headquartered in San Bruno, where some 1,000 engineers and developers work. The company has been rapidly expanding its tech operations, and in the last year has acquired a few Silicon Valley startups to help grow its cloud computing technology and digital shopping platforms.

Walmart has had a presence in Sunnyvale for more than a year, but Wednesday marked the official opening of the new office. About 500 people work there, and Walmart said it plans to double that, and is hiring engineers, computer scientists and e-commerce professionals. Walmart also has technology development hubs in Bangalore, San Diego and Portland, Ore.

A series of reports this year by researchers and media have drawn attention to the loose movement and its propagation on social media. In April, an advocacy group called the Tech Transparency Project warned that Boogaloo followers were discussing taking up arms while promoting protests to "liberate" states from coronavirus restrictions.